Lawyers Try to Revive Texas Death-Penalty Hearing

By

Ana Campoy

Dec. 8, 2010 5:03 p.m. ET

The defense attorneys for an accused killer are trying to restart a controversial hearing on the legality of the death penalty in Texas after the state's highest criminal court stopped it Tuesday at the request of prosecutors.

The controversial hearing, which started Monday at a state district court in Houston, was expected to last a couple of weeks. The defense lawyers had asked the judge to rule that the way Texas applies capital...